The Orchard - Post Acute Care
12385 E. Washington Blvd, Whittier CA 90606 · (562) 693-7701 · 92.03% estimated occupancy 1Updated: Aug 1, 2020 · By Nick Lata
The Orchard - Post Acute Care is a large nursing home located in Whittier, California. This nursing home was awarded an overall grade of B-, which is a middle of the road score. Based on our analysis, there are certainly far worse places out there. We were also pleased to find that this facility was consistent in each of the major categories. More information about these categories can be found below.
Additional Details:
Accepts Medicare 1 :
Accepts Medicaid 1 : 162 Beds
CCRC :
For profit - Corporation
Resident Council:
Family Council:
Medical Staff Hours Per Patient (2019)
Facility Inspections
The primary reason this nursing home received a decent overall score is its excellent health inspections in recent years. We gave it one of our better grades in that area, with a grade of A-. This is a much better score than the facility's overall score, which was decent but certainly not elite. Inspection ratings are based on pieces of information located in the a nursing home's recent inspection reports. Places that excel in this category have very few deficiencies on their reports. Most importantly, these places should not have any severe deficiencies which are associated with risks to patient safety. This facility received 9 deficiencies on its inspection report, but we were relieved to see that none of the deficiencies were considered to be severe. This indicates that CMS didn't consider any of these deficiencies to be an immediate risk to resident health or safety. The fact that the deficiencies were relatively minor made us feel better about this inspection report.
Long-term Care Quality
Another one of this facility's more favorable category grades was in the area of long-term care. In that category, we gave this nursing home a B+. It actually performed better than most nursing homes in this category. Facilities that do well in this category typically provide residents with better supervision and stay on top of routine medical care. On top of very favorable nursing hour statistics, this nursing home's vaccination data was superb as well. In fact, it vaccinated 100 percent of its residents for pneumonia. The last datapoint we looked at is the facility's hospitalization rate. Here we found that this place had 3.73 hospitalizations per one thousand long-term resident days. While this admittedly wasn't as favorable as some of its other scores in this category, this statistic can be skewed for some facilities due to some of the medical complexity of residents.
Nurse Quality
Next, we looked at the nursing category where we awarded this nursing home a grade of B-, which is a decent grade. Our nursing grade is based on several subcategories, however, the primary one is the number of nurse hours spent with patients. This nursing home offers extremely high levels of nursing care, averaging 4.1 hours per resident per day. This is well above average. Lastly, we also looked at a few nursing quality measures and this place actually excelled in some of these. With fewer than five percent of its patients sustaining pressure ulcers, it performed as well as any place California in this category.
Short-term Care Quality
Our next category is short-term care, where we gave this facility a grade of C in this category. Our short-term care grade is generally used to judge a nursing home's performance with rehabilitation. To have highly scored rehabilitation services, facilities generally need to feature better levels of skilled nursing. These types of services include registered nurses, physical therapists, respiratory therapists and other licensed professionals. One reason for this facility's strong score in this category is that it provides a substantially greater volume of physical therapist hours than the average facility. Finally, we assessed the number of residents who were able to return to the community from this facility. We found that 41.6 percent of this facility's patients returned home. At most facilities, closer to half of their patients are able to return home so this is below average.
Overall Rating Over Time
Compared to national and state averages across all facilities.
The Orchard - Post Acute Care Quality Metrics
Minimizes Pressure Ulcers
This indicates the percentage of residents that have had a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers are considered to be an indicator of nursing care at a nursing home. Pressure ulcers, also called bed sores, are often the result of patients not being moved frequently enough.
Percent of Patients with Pressure Ulcers
Lower is Better
Minimizes Serious Falls
This tells you the percent of residents who suffered from a fall leading to serious injury.
Percent of Patients with Serious Falls
Lower is Better
Minimizes Urinary Tract Infections
This is the percent of patients who sustained a urinary tract infection. These infections could be associated with insufficient hygiene.
Percent of Patients with UTIs
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Psychotic Medication
This indicates the percentage of patients who were given antipsychotic medications. While antipsychotic drugs may be vital to many residents, it is important to make sure these drugs are being used appropriately. In limited cases, excessive reliance on these medications may indicate that a nursing home is using these medications to control patient behavior.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriately Uses Anti-Anxiety Medication
This is a measure of the percent of long-term residents which are given antianxiety drugs. These drugs are typically given to patients suffering from anxiety and depression.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Managing Depression Among Residents
This metric is a measure of the percent of long-term stay patients who are exhibiting depressive symptoms.
Percent of Patients
Lower is Better
Appropriate Vaccine Usage
This metric is a measure of the percent of long-term care residents who have received the flu and pneumonia vaccines. Respiratory viruses can be fatal for nursing home patients, making these vaccines vital to patient care.
Percent of Patients
Higher is Better
Residents Maintain Autonomy
This is a measure of the percentage of long-term stay residents that needed additional assistance with activities of daily living over time. Activities of daily living include activities such as dressing and taking a bath.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Ability to Keep Residents Mobile
This datapoint is a measure of the percentage of long-term patients who maintained mobility. Some argue that the ability to move around is important for residents' mental and physical health.
Percentage of Residents
Higher is Better
Hospitalizations
This datapoint is a measure of the number of hospitalizations per thousand days of patient care. Minimizing hospitalizations is key to the physical well-being of residents.
Hospitalizations per 1,000 resident days
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Rehospitalizations
This is a measure of the number of times residents are rehospitalized per 1,000 days of short-term resident care. Keeping residents out of the hospital during rehabilitation is key to restoring the physical well-being of residents.
Percentage of Residents Rehospitalized
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: ER Visits
This tells you the number of emergency room visits per thousand days of short-term care. There is generally a correlation between fewer emergency room visits and the quality of nursing home care.
Percentage of Patients
Lower is Better
Short-term Care: Facilitates Functional Improvement
This tells you the percent of short-term care residents that experienced functional improvements, such as enhanced ability to perform activities of daily living.
Percentage of Resident
Higher is Better